Jim’s Story of Addiction and Recovery
Hi, my name is Jim, I have the disease of addiction, I am a drug addict and alcoholic, I only separate these two because of the perception by society that alcohol is different, this means that whenever I use a mind altering substance of any kind, I cannot easily stop using it, and have no concept of the outcome of my using. After twenty years of drinking and using, my life became hopeless, and I felt helpless and useless. This disease affected me mentally (vengeful and destructive thinking along with blaming), physically (broken bones due to fights and accidents, poor health, and loss of freedom) emotionally (feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and uselessness) and spiritually (disconnected from myself, my beliefs and morals). As well, it affected everyone else around me, much to my surprise how much it did affect others, I only found this fact out after I found recovery. The disease is real, when and where I got it from is inconsequential, only what I can do about it here and now.